Miladygrey

I'm probably reading the watery scents into it, but I swear they're there. A soft, pale floral, mild and pleasant on my skin, with just a hint of white rose mixed in with lily and lotus. So mild, in fact, that slathering had to occur.

I was totally expecting some avenging scent, not a lovely warm blend of neroli and ylang-ylang with a bit of honey. It reminds me of Bengal or Thaleia, with a faintly dark edge--probably the patchouli. Nothing like an unexpected frimp!

I described this scent to a friend as "neither one thing nor the other"--then paused and burst out laughing. It's apt enough, though. The citrus is the most obvious, especially the grapefruit, but it's somehow still sweet, probably due to the influence of chocolate. Lavender comes out with the drydown, but it's still mingled with the citrus, so it's not the old-lady scent that lavender often becomes on me. The scent as a whole is...clear. Sweet and crisp and clear. I really like it!

I love this scent madly and passionately. Sweet nutmeg and just a little clove, and that wonderful sweetness...yep, pure pumpkin pie. My husband tried to gnaw on my arm. Annoyingly, it turns very slightly to plastic over time, but not enough to scare me away. So long as I freshen it periodically, or just wear a tiny dab, I can avoid the plastic and enjoy the imp.

I had such hopes. Such...hopes...*sob* In the bottle it's just delicious, rum and almond. I thought it would be like Eclipse, which I love. And for a few brief, shining moments, it was almond and rum and some spice on my skin. Then came the clove. The clove came only to kill and destroy. The clove ate Manhattan. And it took over my arm for the next few hours. It settled down into soapy clove-ness after a long while. I have nothing at all against cloves, but I don't want to smell like them. Oh Port-au-Prince, we could have been friends! But I shall go back to Bengal and Lyonesse instead, and relegate you to the swap pile.

In the bottle and wet, it's all flowers and a little citrus. I am cautiously hopeful. As it dries, I get roses. Then more roses. Then Attack of the Mutant Red Roses of Death. I <I>like</I> red roses, but not in this vast amount. It's drowning me. After several hours, the rose dies down and the jasmine comes out a little. But those several hours are rather a long wait. This one's going in the swap pile, with a small sigh of regret.

Hmmmm. Frimp. No idea what to expect, but I am cautious, since my other experiences with Excolo blends have not been the best. Wet: Um, bubblegum. However, not evil pink bubblegum of doom and destruction. It's fruity (apricot! That explains it!) and sweet without being too sugary. There's a hint of ylang-ylang and gardenia, but mostly apricot bubblegum. It's the most unapologetically happy scent I've ever tried. Dry: The flowers have taken over, though kindly. Almost all gardenia now, with the apricot down to an under-note and the honey adding depth. I was afraid it was going to go plastic on me (see Euphrosyne), but it stays lovely and floral. Reminds me of Peitho. This might be worth a 5mL bottle. Will wear again and consider it. A nice treat from the Lab.

Yet another frimp I never expected. The Lab folks are cool. Wet, it smells like pure incense, sweet and rich and old. I described Aureus to a friend as 'dust with a hint of incense', Omen is its inverse. Dry (and having read the list of scents), I can pick out the notes. Myrrh does what it always does on my skin, which is settle in and be deliciously sweet and almost sensual. The patchouli is also a presence, and I can sense the tang of juniper keeping it from smelling merely sweet and old. It smells like a library, back in the stacks paging through books you've never seen before. Maybe a grimoire or two, but nothing dangerous. I do like this. Might try a drop of it on the fiance--English teachers should smell like books, after all.

Once again, the Lab somehow knows what frimps to send me. Wet, it's very...red-smelling, though not as much as Satyr. I'm mostly getting sweetness, ylang-ylang and the red musk, with patchouli in the background and the myrrh a deep rich base that mingles nicely with my skin. It's not got much throw, but I get a faint whiff as I move around. Very pleasant. And as it dries...oh my. The myrrh continues to blend with my skin and makes a deliciously carnal scent. The red musk dies down into simple musk, and the patchouli and ylang-ylang merge into dusty-spicy-sweet. The best description is Snake Oil mixed with Iago. Altogether it's total allure. I smell like skin, and slow dances that are just this side of sex on the dance floor, and long wet kisses. Two more comments. My fiance loved this and kept sniffing my hair and neck. And it really lasts--when I went to bed ten hours after applying it, there was still a hint of it on my wrists. Want bottle NOW.

For something named after gruesome tentacular death, this is really nice! A nice surprise frimp. Wet: It's...well, wet. Smells like water, cool and with just a hint of salt and greenery. My fiance wears Cool Water, and I think he'd like this if he'd give it a chance. Dry: Doesn't change much. More of the greenery comes out, and a little floral. Smelling it, my brain goes to a blue-green underwater scene with waving fronds of seaweed...and maybe a tentacle. I like it, and will enjoy my imp. Maybe Lovecraft wore this on dates?

Well, there's fruit. Definitely fruit. I'm not getting peach, maybe a little apricot. But I am <I>drowning</I> in what's probably golden sandalwood or heliotrope. Very strong, very sweet, reminiscent of dragonsblood resin (of all things). Do not want.

Unleash the bawdy, unrestrained passion of the satyr! A ferociously masculine scent: sexual, vigorous, and truly wild. This was a frimp, and a surprise, since aside from a fondness for Iago, I don't think I've ever ordered anything that screams MALE. This does. Hoo boy, does this ever. Being cautious, I put one small dot onto the back of my hand. Pulse point testing will come later. Wet: CINNAMON CINNAMON CINNAMON perhaps a hint of clove CINNAMON CINNAMON and maybe a little civet CINNAMON. For the first time, I understand the people who are blown away by cinnamon scents. It was incredibly strong, smelled red, and I kept waiting for my skin to blister. The little bits of clove and musk were almost completely drowned. Dry: Still cinnamon, now definitely tempered with the clove and...something else. If this is civet, it's not attacking me or anything, just a subtle, musky scent. The best comparison I can make is how a guy smells when you're hugging him and your nose is pressed into the hollow of his throat. In conclusion, I will try and talk the fiance into applying a bit of this. I think he'll like the result.

Well, this is...not what I was expecting. I picked Highwayman for an imp because, yay leather and vetiver! It works in Iago, I figured it would work for me here. Wet--very sweet. No leather, no vetiver, no cinnamon, just flowers and the scent of my skin underneath it. Fiance thinks it smells like incense, and maybe it does, but just a little. Dry--Still nine-tenths flowers, mostly gardenia and jasmine. There's the faintest wisp of leather and vetiver underneath. No roses, no cinnamon. All together, the scent is that of a clean man, soap and skin and leather. I like it. Verdict--I may blend this with Iago and see what happens. Definitely worth the trial imp.

Attack of the florals! It should be good on me, it should, because vanilla and I have always been friends. But it just blasts on as FLOWERS, and then dries down into that plasticky scent we all know and despise. *sigh* Add to the trade pile.

There are ghosts of sandalwood and myrrh in here, lovely and wistful and sweet, but what I'm mainly getting is the cocoa. First, rather aghast response--"I smell like a peanut butter cup!". But it's not unpleasant. The name "Velvet" is perfectly apropos; it's a soft, warm, slightly dusty scent that's rather comforting. I'll enjoy my imp.

Wet: Very sweet. Definitely honeysuckle, with just a hint of cinnamon, and maybe some vanilla/honey. As it dries, the cinnamon really comes out, just barely leavened by the honey(suckle). It's the switch of Bengal. Dry, it's sugary-sweet--my fiance said it smelled like cotton candy. Verdict: I like my imp, but not enough to buy a 5 mL. Might trade for more imps of this in the future.

It starts out floral-fruity, quite nice. Then the fruit takes over. Actually, the fruit stages a ferocious coup d'etat, overthrowing the pleasant lily and ylang-ylang and letting the plum rule over all as a tyrannical despot. In short, I smell like a grape Sweet Tart. Not what I'm looking for, really.

Well dang. In the bottle and wet, it was just lovely, all milk and honey and almond. Then after about ten minutes, it turned into plastic. Vanilla-scented plastic. *sighs* That's a shame.

Oh holy mother of all things yummy and baked, I would eat my wrist right now if I had a little less self-control. This stuff is fabulous. In the bottle--all pumpkin, all the time. On my skin, some of the orange and cardamom come out, enough to give the pumpkin-sweetness unexpected depth. And now (45 minutes after applying), I think I can smell a little amber and musk. My kingdom for a bottle!

It's...water. Water and stone and the old bridges crossing them. Soft and flowery and wet and mild. I have to slather it on for it to linger, but it's worth the slather.

Lovely, soft and sweet and floral...and yes, dark. I can't pick any one of the scents named out from the blend, but they all come together so smoothly. It reminds me on Tennyson--"Come into the garden Maud, for the black bat night has flown/Come into the garden Maud, I am here at the gate alone/...and the musk of the rose is blown." The only thing I can compare this to is the Yankee Candle known as Midsummer Night. This is the feminine equivalent of that scent.

In the bottle, wet, dry, and probably until the end of time, it smelled like my grandmother's attic. Dusty and old, with a ghost of sweetness hovering wistfully in the background. I'm a librarian, I smell like dust most of the time anyway. So very not for me.

Wow, that's...something. In a good way. From the bottle and wet: Mint and eucalyptus. Wake up, good morning! It's like walking to work on a winter morning, with the taste of the cold in your mouth. Dry: Violets. But not cloying violets, just a soft sweetness, mitigated (I think) by the lingering mint and possibly the neroli. May get another imp of this. It's a good get-up-and-go scent.

Hmmmm. I didn't think I was going to like this, because dragonsblood resin turns to fruit bubble gum on me. So my expectation was really Bubblegum at King Arthur's Court. Which, initially, it was. But my patience paid off, yes! After a few minutes, the sweetsweetSWEET of the dragonsblood faded, and suddenly there was wine and bayberry and...I don't know how to describe it. Stone and chill, but also light and laughter. A very friendly scent. I don't know how Beth does this! Another imp may be forthcoming. Are there good scents to mingle with this to cut down on the dragonsblood?

This smells so ridiculously good it's almost unreal. Stargazer lily (mmmmmm), the white musk (exotic), and especially the ambergris. Even when all the other scents had faded, that rich fragrance stayed and stayed--never overpowering, just there. It's completely feminine and elegantly sensual. Must get my own imp or bottle straightaway.